Airport Confession
by LuckyBachi
Summary: Natsu realises he needs to tell Lucy he loves her before she goes away and travels for a year. Airport AU
1. Part One

"What are you going to do?"

"Well… what am I supposed to do? It's not like she was forced to go with him."

Erza sighed a little, eying the pink boy with scrutiny. She had no place after all, she had been the one to tell Lucy to decide on her own whether or not she wanted to leave with Loke on the plane to Europe. But Europe was a long way from Japan, and she knew for a fact that Natsu was holding onto certainties that only he was too hesitant to take action. But he wasn't a man of words, she grew up with him long enough to know that, and as he sat at the bench with a calculating expression, she knew there was something going on inside that head of his.

"You're going to miss her, correct?" Erza settled herself opposite Natsu, sitting on the stool and folding her skirt beneath her.

"Yeah, I guess." He sighed, dumping his elbow on the bench top and resting his head on top.

"They say Paris is the city of love."

"Yeah?"

"Yes." She nodded, never once taking her eyes off him, watching as he dragged a hand restlessly through his salmon coloured locks, a current state of agitation.

"What about it?" He huffed, clearly noticing that she had glued her attention to him all of a sudden.

"Loke said it was the first place he wanted to take her."

"Why would I give a damn about Loke?" He growled, crossing his arms. If this was his version of having a strop, she knew that she would have to try and make herself as blunt as possible.

"Natsu."

He raised a brow, her change in tone apparently making him realise that she wasn't widing him up without a reason.

"Do you like Lucy?"

"Yeah of course."

"Do you love her enough to let her go to Europe for a year?"

"What?"

"She's leaving for a long time."

"A whole year? Why?!" His expression changed, a new form of anger dwelling in his dark eyes as he tensed himself up.

Erza stretched forward, her red hair toppling over her shoulders as she pulled at the sleeve of his denim-coloured collar shirt, unhooking the button to twist it back into it's correct place.

"Didn't you know this?"

"Lucy just said it was a holiday-"

"It is. Virgo lives in the south and Lucy wanted to visit Aquarius several times. There's a lot of travelling involved."

"But… how's she supposed to get money? A year's a long time and she can't pluck jobs up like she can here…" He grumbled, yanking his arm away from hers to adjust it messily again.

"She's going to try do some writing, I think she took up a couple of travel journalist blogs that can earn her a little money. She said there's also a Magazine in Italy that she messaged and they sounded eager to have her on board."

Natsu frowned, his emotions faltering with every extra word that Erza let escape out of her mouth; so she forced herself not to add anything else onto that sentence.

"The point is, a lot of things can change over a year Natsu. She might not be the same Lucy when she comes back."

"It's Lucy. Lucy is always the same."

"I mean, she might look at you differently. Or maybe you'll look… at her differently."

"What d'ya even mean? Is this another life lesson about why things won't work out with you and Jellal?"

Erza grumbled cross, this an attempt to shush him.

"No, I'm just saying you might no like her the way that you like her now."

"Like her what way?"

"The way that she likes you."

"What way is that?" He asked, his expression now innocent, it was amazing how fast his aura could change simply from the information he was being given.

"That she loves you."

His eyes widened, as this had never occurred to him before.

"You think she loves me?"

"I know she loves you."

"I… I didn't… think she felt that way…"

"And you do too, right?"

"Well… I never thought she'd… I don't know…"

"Aren't you going to do anything?"

"Do anything?"

"Yes, aren't you going to stop her from going?"

"Stop her…? I can't stop her from going! She's been talking about this for the last few weeks, she's really excited!" Natsu defended, Erza smiling at how effected he seemed with his concern or Lucy's excitement. She'd be lying to not admit that she didn't want the pair to get together after all.

"But you can tell her."

He nodded slightly, "Yeah I guess I could tell her I feel the same way if it's true…"

"You'll have to hurry, Natsu."

"Hurry? She wasn't supposed to be leaving until tonight."

Erza laughed, rolling her eyes at how uninformed the poor boy was.

"Natsu, their flight got moved up by 4 hours, they had to leave for the airport 25minutes ago."

"What?!" He practically slammed his hands down on the table at that, completely outraged by this newly found information. "The hell did no one tell me this for?! Why aren't you at the airport?!" Natsu barked his questions, his angered panic from before returning.

"Calm down."

He didn't though, he just glared at her, she hadn't told him about the moving of the flight till now and she was the only one home with him; they had planned to wave Lucy off together with all the others and Erza was to accompany Natsu on the travel due to his motion sickness. It never really got him very far alone and the taxi men were always getting angry when he chucked up in the back.

"I didn't tell you because I wanted you to know what you were letting Lucy do."

"I'm letting Lucy do something she's been dreaming of."

"You're letting Lucy think that there's somewhere else to find her dream." Erza corrected, narrowing her glance, her words wise and completely pulled out of thin air.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means she's been waiting to long."

"Too long for what?!"

Perhaps she was enjoying the riddles a little too much. "For you to tell her that you love her."

"When is her flight?"

"In two hours from now. They would already be waiting in the terminal now."

Natsu growled, pulling himself away from the bench in a stubborn manner, yanking his trainers off the floor and shoving them onto his feet.

"I suppose this means you want to leave immediately?" Erza asked, tilting her head and pulling at the hem of her sweater as she too rose to her feet.

"You sure as hell bet we are. I ain't gonna let her leave without at least a goodbye kiss."


	2. Part Two

"Lucy?"

There were loud beeps and voices bouncing around the room as the two of had been forced to squeeze themselves onto the white seats of the terminal, hand luggage at arms length and their passports in their fingers.

"Huh?"

"Are you feeling okay?" Loke pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose; looking down at the blonde in a rather affectionate manner.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Lucy smiled somewhat, dragging her hand through her blonde locks, wishing she'd left her bangs down so that she could have hidden behind them like a curtain. Though at least she could glue her eyes to her Lacrima mobile, the digital buttons staring back at her, taunting her as she waited for some kind of text.

"Is this still that not everyone was there to say goodbye?"

"Yeah… I kinda wanted to see Natsu before we left…"

"And Erza?"

"Yeah… of course." She widened that smile. It was a long time to go without a goodbye, and she wasn't particularly fond of goodbyes herself but, at least that would have given her one last chance to look at that pink hair and cheeky grin. Now she had no way to do that, other than photos on her phone but they weren't so easy to pull a goodbye hug from.

Loke nodded, "If we waited any longer, we were going to be late." He was right of course, the movement of this plane ride had been nothing but a bother, but the fact that it also messed up with everyone being able to get their in time, it upset her a little.

Plus on top of that, Natsu might feel saddened that they never got a chance to say goodbye. And she had her phone but signal was down and she hadn't received any messages.

With a gentle flip, she closed the case and sighed. Perhaps she had been silly to think that anything would trigger, so many times she had wanted to speak privately with Natsu. But after so many failed attempts and realisations that Natsu was dense for such feelings, she wasn't sure if to simply give up. Maybe it was good to get away for a while, even Levy agreed a bit of distance would do them both good. Let her clear her head to decide what she really thought about the boy before she jumped head first into simply asking how he felt about her. She didn't want to push Natsu after all, she cared far too much to have to put him through such a thing.

"You'll need to turn that off when we board." Loke piqued up, pointing at her phone in a calming manner, pulling out his own phone to push down on the power button.

She grumbled a little, flicking her brown eyes back to the phone in her fingers. It was a waste of time having it on when there was no service anyway.

She dragged her eyes over the people of the terminal, families, partners, and even plain, small groups quite like Lucy and Loke. If the trip hadn't been for just her friends, and they had been a little more… intimate, she probably would have invited Natsu to join them. But of course, his problem with travel was always another thing that stopped it from happening if those things were the case. Nevertheless, the group was small and she was off to see her friends with just Loke.

It had been a quick goodbye, especially without Natsu and Erza. The waves were short and sweet, Levy cried a little saying she would miss her Lu-Chan, Wendy sobbed, Gray seemed to show no emotions other than a farewell and a nod of the head and Juvia clung to him as if Lucy was planning on taking him along. But she knew they all cared dearly and wished the best for her just by the aura of their goodbyes; she just wished she had seen Natsu and been able to sense his aura. For it would have given her answers she was waiting for.

"How long have we go left?"

"About half an hour, we won't be too long." Loke replied, pulling on the jumper her wore in a rather fashioned way.

"Okay…" One last glance at her phone; the clock reading 7pm. Their flight wasn't till 8, but boardings were half an hour early.

One hour. Natsu had 30 minutes left to get here before she wouldn't get the chance to say goodbye, then it was gone for a year.

* * *

"H-how much longer…" Natsu groaned, his head smushed against the window as he looker whiter than milk, the motion sickness always hitting him harder than anyone else.

"We're basically here, we're just stuck in a bit of rocky traffic."

He perked a little due to the fact she had announced that they weren't that far.

"You mean if we wanted, we could walk from here?"

"Yes, but we're in the middle of the road, Natsu. We can't exactly just pull over here."

"Is it illegal to just up and get out of a car?"

"Would it make a difference if it was?"

"Just answer my question."

"Well, no, but I wouldn't advice it. There's a lot of traffic. I just said that." Erza growled, letting him know that she wasn't in the mood for him to be playing about. But he knew enough that he wasn't messing around, if they were only a walk away, he could easier jump up and make his way to the desk in order to look where Lucy was. Then he could give his farewell properly without having to wait about in more traffic.

"How long is the walk?"

"Probably about 15 minutes." She nodded, glancing at the dark window. Though Natsu had rather good senses, he would be fine with a bit of dark.

"Okay. Sounds good-" He pushed on the door handle, at first expecting a yell or a chiding, but nothing came and he knew Erza had been hoping he'd stick with this choice anyway. He couldn't help but notice that she supported it after all, she had been the one that had held Natsu up in the first place.

"Her flight is 8pm."

"Got it-"

"Ah, and Natsu?"

He'd already pushed him through the door, decide another car that was jammed aside their ride, looking irritated at how close Natsu was cutting it.

"I'm sorry I didn't try to tell you earlier."

He grinned at the sound of the apology and removed himself fully from the door.

"No sorries." He closed the quickly and stuck up his thumb on the other side of the glass. He owed her a thank you, two if he got there in time.

That didn't need a second thought before he practically sprinted past cars, over them if he couldn't help it; bouncing along the pavement in a rather playful manner, that stupid grin on his face. He rather enjoyed a time limit, but his smile was more so due to the fact that he was happy. Happy about this perhaps not quite, but the fact that Erza had said she had liked Natsu. Really liked, and for some reason it made him feel a little lighter to know that Lucy cared for him in a certain way. At least he hoped Erza was right, this wasn't exactly something he wanted to get wrong.

Finally he saw the doors of the airport, beelining for the handle in a second, bumping into people along the way with silent bows of apology or a barking pedestrian. The pink boy nearly knocked over the doors with him swift speed, bolting for the desk.

"Hey!"

The lady at the counter was small, slender and very shocked; her eyes wide at the boy who had just dragged himself through the door.

"Can I help you?" She continued, settling her hands over one another on the desk.

"I've just got to say bye to someone on the Europe fight at 7pm."

"At 8pm? Guests are just outside in the east wing, but the passengers have already entered the terminal."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm very sure. You can still get in the east wing though."

He nodded, "Thanks." Though he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Though he was best to try his luck down in the east wing. Surely they'd be lenient of a goodbye.


	3. Part Three

"Lucy." The boy shook her shoulder a little, trying to grab her attention and she had to snap back from whatever fantasy had begun to formulate in her head, her eyes looking up at the boy.

"Sorry?"

"We have to go in the line, they called our number."

"Oh… right." She forced herself to her feet, her legs a little heavy from all the sitting they had been doing. Shuffling her passport, she dragged her carry-on back in a slow motion.

How long was there now? About five minutes she assumed, but the line it wouldn't be long before they would need to get on.

* * *

He practically sighed in relief at the sigh of Gray, Levy, Wendy and Juvia; all of them groaning a little bit.

"Ah! Guys, can I still see Lucy?"

"Natsu-San, she already went inside, I'm sorry."

"I can still go in though right?"

Wendy shook her head.

"Ugh. But, what about one of these airport people, they can let me in right?"

"Flame Brain, the only way you'd get in was if you brought yourself a plane ticket." Gray muttered, rolling his eyes a little bit.

"Okay."

Gray practically choked at that, his eyes widening to look at the boy.

"What?!"

"I said okay, where can I go?"

Levy smiled at that, answering for the other male, "Just at the desk, you'll have to hurry though."

Natsu nodded his thanks once again and moved himself to the second counter of the night.

"Yo, can I get a ticket for this plane?"

"I'm sorry sir, they've already begun boarding the plane."

"Oh. That's okay. Can I just go inside to say goodbye to someone?"

"I'm sorry, sir. I'm afraid we are not allowed to do that."

"Please? C'mon, it'll just be for two minutes."

"I'm sorry, Sir. We really can't."

Natsu gave the man a flat look, he too a slim figure, never be able to knock Natsu to his feet. He could easily just jump over the desk and run into the terminal himself…

He glanced back at Levy and the other's, all of them watching him, waiting for him to either come back or be let through.

But right as planned, he pushed down on the bench as a heap of yells protruded from members of the staff; along with groans from the Fairy Tail members.

Though before they had the chance to fling security at him, Natsu pelted forward, his breathing easy as he moved towards the terminal gate, his eyes catching sight of Lucy's blonde locks; a smile protruding on his face. She was right there! He could easily just call out to her.

"Lu-"

Though at that he toppled to the floor, his face being shoved into the grey carpet beneath him, muffling her name as he was forced to watch her walk through the door without having to hear him. She looked a little sad from where he now lay; a weight on top of him which gave him solid evidence that security- and by the feels of it more than one- had tackled him to the floor. But even as she dragged that hand luggage behind her on those little lilac wheels, Loke led the way and the two of them disappeared behind a door, it closing silently behind them.

He yanked his face from the carpet, struggling under the load, a ringing in his ear muffling out the sounds of the men above yelling.

The hell?! He had been so close and yet… she was already so far away.


	4. Final Part

Natsu kicked the railing, his eyes glued to the side of the building where they could easily watch the plane take off.

He'd missed her. Obviously. And now he was going to have to miss her for another whole hour. The guards had practically dragged him out of the airport like he had been some kind of criminal when all he had wanted to do was say goodbye to Lucy, and the unpleasant looks from other people in the airport made him anything but comfortable.

"Dammit!" He barked, watching as Erza began to make her way up the stairs.

"What happened?" She asked, her tone already knowing the answer as she watched Natsu force himself to settle.

"Flame brain here went mental and jumped the terminal gate. So now we're not allowed back in."

"Shut up, asshole." Natsu grumbled, ramming his back against the rail, his arms folded.

"Well, you should have known it was a dumb idea." Gray scoffed, Juvia hugging onto his arm as a gentle breeze brushed against them. Though it was Wendy who perked up rather than Erza to break up whatever argument was about to begin.

"Natsu-San, why don't you leave Lucy a voice mail on her mobile?" She gave the boy a soft smile, looking up at him with admirable eyes.

"Oh, I guess I could."

"She probably wouldn't hear it, she can't use her phone in Europe and you're supposed to turn it off before you get on the plane." Levy butted in, tugging out a cardigan from her slouch bag and tossing it over her shoulders, the fabric a dark grey as it flooded over her tiny frame.

"But she might not have her phone off yet?"

"It's possible."

"Ah, cool!" He patted down himself, his brows raising as he came to the conclusion that he didn't have his phone with him. In fact, he couldn't even remember the last time he had it.

Erza merely sighed, pulling out her own phone.

"You'd lose your own head if it weren't screwed onto your body." She stabbed her think fingers down into the numbers and then held the lacrima cell out in the palm of her hand.

"It's ringing right now, you just need to take it and speak."

Natsu nodded gently, taking the phone delicately as he took a few steps away from the group, all five of them watching him with curious eyes. He had to spin himself around to avoid being given all the pressure.

This was all good right? If her phone was on, she would pick up and he could just tell her what he was planning to say before he got knocked down onto his feet. If she didn't pick up, she wouldn't hear the message until her phone was back on and that would post likely be in a year when she finally returned back to Japan. It was a chance worth taking after all, since his only job tonight was to tell her how much he was going to miss her where she would take ont he rest for herself. It was his own fault, how could he not have realised earlier? Or maybe gotten Erza to talk to him sooneer, if only he hadn't found out about the plane ride so late. Speaking of that… why hadn't Lucy told him about the schedule changing, she had seen him that morning yet she hadn't bothered to bring it up, maybe she was worried about something herself.

He sighed somewhat, pushing the phone onto his ear, the melancholic ringing shaking his eardrums as he waited for her to pick up.

However, his hopes faltered a little, one ring, two rings, three rings. It was a while until it finally came to a stop and a lady begin to speak telling Natsu to leave a message after the beep.

Then he was met with dead silence, the only sounds around were the noise of him breathing and the breeze blowing against his ears.

here it was, the moment of truth, for him to use his words to truly tell her how he felt. But there was a problem. He had no idea how to use words. Not like Lucy, not the way she could easily explain something, or make someone feel better by just saying one sentence. He was bad with putting them in order and letting them explain how he truly felt.

Time ticked away as he thought, waiting and deciding until there was another beep and the phone line cut out.

He pulled it away from his ear, his eyes watching the device with almost utter condolence, what would he do, call again and beg that she picked up. The plane was going to leave very soon and he would need to be fast.

With a poke, he pressed down the call button and it began to redial the blonde, the ringing once again chiming into his ear. Though, as expected she did not pick up again; and that beep greeted him like an old friend.

He stood there in silence for a moment again, glancing back at the other Fairy Tail members, all of them with their eyes glued to the planes. They were watching Lucy's plane of course, as it began to start up, the lightly flickering up as the wheels protruded out. And as he spoke, he started at it as it begun his lift off.

"Hey Luce…. I know I'm… a little late. I had no idea your plane was leaving earlier, I would have been there to wave you off if I could. But.. I did some talking with Erza, and she made me realised some stuff…"

There the plane began to move, it rolling against the pavement like it was in a rally, it's speed determined.

"I'm not very good with words, so this might not make a lot of sense. I want you to see your friends, I'm so happy for you that you're going away on this trip to go visit them all. But there's something I never got chance to say to you; and I think you ought to know that I'll be waiting here at home for you. I really like you Lucy, like as in… I l-"

Though he was cut short as that loud, condescending beep blurted out from the speakers and he pulled it back from his ear, looking up at the plane that had finally lifted from the ground.

There she went, and here he stood, small as anything on this pavement, that plane heading for a bigger, wider adventure. One that was all Lucy's. As long as she was happy, he couldn't think of anything better, and whether or not his message got to her, he loved her nevertheless.

He glanced down at the pavement.

"I'll wait for you…" He whispered, tugging the scarf around his neck. Even with the other's here, it was going to feel a little lonely.

"Why would you do that?"

"Because I love you, Lucy."

"But how can you wait for someone who hasn't left?"

He paused slightly, his whole body tensing up as he realised he wasn't talking to himself. That voice. Her voice. Coming from right behind him…

He spun around immediately, his eyes falling on exactly what he had been envisioning, her blonde locks fallen down on her shoulders as her cheeks were a soft pink.

"Lucy!?"

"Hey." She smiled, running a hand through her hair.

"What the hell?! Your plane just left!"

"I know."

"But- w-what about your trip?!" His eyes were wide, what on earth was she doing? This was her trip to see her friends, she just missed it, what did she think she was doing?"

"I couldn't leave knowing that I never got to say goodbye to you."

"But Lucy…"

"Come with me."

"What?"

"Come with me. To Europe."

"What?! Why would you ask that…"

"Because, I love you too. I don't want to say goodbye."

He smiled back at her now, something in his heart lightening at her true confession. How did she know to even come out? Had she heard his message? Even with that…

Though she pulled him quickly into a hug, his heart skipping a beat at the fact that she had managed to shock him with such a gesture.

"Okay."

Lucy laughed, "Okay."

And even with all this, he had a new concern on his mind now.

The motion sickness to Europe would surely kill him. But at least he wouldn't have to see Lucy leave his side.


End file.
